After months of meetings with every label in Nashville, the Randy Rogers Band signed with Mercury Nashville and the sealed the deal at the joint where it all started: Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, TX. “We were really conscious about not letting the fact that this was going to be our major-label debut mess with our heads” says Rogers, “Because to us, this record is really just the next step. For many folks who don’t know about the movement that’s going on down here, it’ll be their first look at us. But we approached this like we were making our fifth record, not our first. And there was a lot of trust from the label in terms of, ‘You guys go out there and make a record and turn it in, and we’ll leave you alone and let you do your thing.'”
In exchange for that creative freedom (and the luxury of a considerably bigger budget than they’d ever had before), the band and producer Radney Foster delivered on their end of the bargain. Just A Matter of Time, set for release September 12, 2006, plays like a rock ‘n’ roll album with a country heart as big as Texas, or a straight-up country record played by a killer rock ‘n’ roll band. But in fine country tradition, it’s the uniform quality of the songs that really steals the show. All but two were co-written by Rogers (four with Foster himself, a potent combo that yielded many of Rollercoaster’s brightest moments, including the single and “Somebody Take Me Home,” later covered by Kenny Chesney for his The Road and the Radio album); the other two were contributed by bassist Richardson (a former front man in his own right) and Foster and George Ducas, who first struck gold co-writing Foster’s first big solo hit, “Just Call Me Lonesome.” Here, they contribute the irresistible “Kiss Me in the Dark,” which was pretty much destined to be the lead single from the very first time the band heard it. “If we were going to cut an outside song, it had to be such a great song that you couldn’t pass on it,” says Rogers, smiling. “It would have to be a single.” 
“We just wanted this record to be an honest representation of where we were at when we signed our first major-label deal,” says Rogers. “I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done, but ‚Ķ we’re going to make another record pretty soon, and hopefully we’ll feel like that’s the best record we’ve ever done, too. The idea is to just continue to raise the bar.”
Get ready for the Randy Rogers Band as Randy takes us on a cut-by-cut tour of Just A Matter Of Time:
Better Off Wrong
Randy Rogers, Gary Nicholson, Radney Foster
I really wanted to write kind of a real driving, old-school ’70s country kind of tune, with a Waylon Jennings kind of backbeat. I knew that Gary Nicholson had played with Billy Joe Shaver and been around forever, so I just told him, “I want to write a Waylon-esque tune.” He said, “Oh really? Here’s Waylon’s 57 Tele,” and hands me Waylon’s guitar. Talk about a panic attack! But it was really cool.
Kiss Me in the Dark
Radney Foster, George Ducas
Radney and George pitched this one to us along with like four or five other songs they had written together. I loved it, played it for the guys, and they loved it. It was very obvious that it was single material. When you get that good of a song, you can kind of feel the magic of the song. And you gotta go with it.
One More Goodbye
Randy Rogers, Clint Ingersol
Clint is another writer at Big Tractor Publishing, where I’m also signed. He’s a good ol’ country boy from Oklahoma. We wrote “One More Goodbye” on a dreary, rainy afternoon in Austin at my road manager’s house. It’s just about that universal thing that I think everybody has gone through, which is like, “I don’t ever want to see you again,” and then the next day, “Uhh… Can I come over?”
Just a Matter of Time
Randy Rogers, Stephony Smith
Stephony is a songwriter who I met through Alisha Jordan who signed me to my publishing deal. We really hit it off and wrote three songs for this record, starting with this one. It ended up being the title of the record, because I felt that as a title it kind of sums up the subject material of the other songs.
You Could’ve Left Me
Randy Rogers, Kent Finlay
Kent Finlay from Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas is definitely one of my mentors. This is like the most pissed-off, driving, kind of screw-you song on the record, which is funny if you know Kent, because he’s a little bit older and doesn’t get too fired up! We wrote it, and I played it for him, and he went, “Well, it’s not what I expected!” Because it came out so rock ‘n’ roll, just gunning it. But he loves it.
You Could Change My Mind
Randy Rogers, Stephony Smith
This is one we wrote from scratch. Neither of us had a melody. I think the hook came about just through us talking it through. It’s always fun when that happens; when you start a three or four hour session of song writing, and you start with nothing and you’re able to walk out with something. It’s a beautiful thing when songs happen that way. Sometimes it takes months to complete a thought, but this one was like, boom.
Before I Believe It’s True
Randy Rogers, Radney Foster
That was one that Radney brought to the table and he and I completely revamped it. It was the truest form of collaboration between two songwriters that I think I’ve ever had. It was the real deal – that’s how co-writing 101 should be.
You Start Over Your Way
Randy Rogers, Radney Foster
That’s the first song that Radney and I wrote for this project. We wanted to write just an up-tempo, let’s go out and have a good time thing. I usually have a hard time writing that kind of stuff – feel good songs aren’t really my specialty! But we managed to write that one.
If Anyone Asks
Randy Rogers, Drew Womack
Drew and I became buddies when he moved to Austin a few years ago. This song is about a guy locking himself up in a room because he’s so upset about a breakup, he doesn’t want to face any of his friends, because he’s embarrassed. It’s a pretty tough subject matter.
You Don’t Know Me
Jon Richardson
Written by Mr. Johnny Chops, our bass player – we call him that because of his big sideburns. We used to do it bluegrass-style, just sit around and play it on mandolins in the van and in the hotel room after the show. We wanted to put a country-ass song on the record, to show off how, you know, “Yeah, we may come off as these real country rock enthusiasts, but if you want to listen to some Jerry Reed, we’ll play you some country music.” And the whole premise of the song is, “I don’t care what you think about me; you judging me isn’t going to ruin my day.”
If I Told You the Truth
Randy Rogers, Radney Foster
I think that was the second song that we wrote for the record. I’d been playing with the melody for a while, and Radney and I finished it together. It’s not as bad as it sounds ‚Ä
82; it’s not like, “I did something wrong, and if I told you, you’d leave me.” It’s more like, “If I told you that I loved you, would you stay with me or would you run away?” So it’s not bad. Unless, of course, she runs away!
Whiskey’s Got a Hold on Me
Randy Rogers, Stephony Smith
I quit drinking whiskey about a year and two months ago after finding the bottom of the bottle, which I don’t recommend. I was staying in Radney’s basement, and I was so ashamed of myself because, here I was trying to become a better songwriter, and I wasn’t taking care of myself, doing the things I needed to do to get myself mentally prepared to write. So Radney’s wife said, “Write about that!” Ding ding ding! It’s probably the most honest song I’ve written in a long time.
Just A Matter of Time is in stores September 12, 2006.
: : : : :
Randy Rogers Band official website
listen to Randy Rogers Band free samples / download from iTunes
Leave a Reply